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Human Cloning, Embryonic Stem Cells and Buddhism in South Korea and Beyond

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Human Cloning, Embryonic Stem Cells and Buddhism in South Korea and Beyond COMPETING “ORIGINARY” TECHNOLOGIES: HUMAN CLONING, EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS AND BUDDHISM IN SOUTH KOREA AND BEYOND A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Cornell University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Marcie Anne Middlebrooks May 2015 © 2015 Marcie Anne Middlebrooks COMPETING “ORIGINARY” TECHNOLOGIES: HUMAN CLONING, EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS AND BUDDHISM IN SOUTH KOREA AND BEYOND Marcie Anne Middlebrooks, Ph. D. Cornell University 2015 This dissertation explores the emergence and development of a South Korean Buddhist discourse supporting cloned human embryonic (hSCNT) stem cell research as a national and global project of religious cultivation which mobilized Korean Buddhists via a more participatory “Buddhist Bioethics” promoting the scientist Hwang Woo-suk (黃禹錫) and his controversial work. I begin with an analysis of the fears and fantasies surrounding the figure of the “human double” or Doppelganger and the “human clone” in the traditional American and Western European contexts where, I argue, the double/clone exhibits the characteristics of what Jacques Derrida dubs “the supplement” – that which is invented to supplement or extend the “original” human being but also inevitably returns to haunt, enslave, and sometimes even destroy its human source. Given that Buddhism employs different ontologies of human being – including the doctrine of no-self anatman 無我, for example – when compared to traditional Western-European, Christian metaphysics, I ask does the modern introduction of “man-made-human” (人造人) and “human cloning” (複製人間) discourse in Korea provoke similar anxieties, apprehensions, and phantasmagorias? When examining the work of Han Yong-un (韓龍雲), an early Korean Buddhist modernizer, and Korean newspapers from the early twentieth century to the present day, I find that a deep-seated dialectical ambivalence akin to the haunting logic of the Derridean supplement also surfaces in “doubles/clones” discourses in Korea, although there are also significant variations as well as subtle differences. A striking variation, which forecasts later Korean Buddhist understandings of Hwang’s human cloning research, is found in a newspaper editorial whose author can only comprehend the dangerous duplicity of human cloning via U.S. global politics. However, this “independent” understanding serves to magnify Korea’s subjugation and post-colonial status several years later, when it is repeated, again, during the “Hwang Scandal.” To further illuminate (Korean) Buddhism’s role in this national and international scientific event, I show how American scientists and journalists publicly presented “Buddhist human cloning beliefs” as well as how Hwang Woo-suk presented his own Buddhist beliefs to the American public and to Korean Buddhists. I present materials gathered from fieldwork with Korean Buddhists rallying to support Hwang’s research; interviews with people involved in organized discussions of Buddhist bioethics, and primary source material from Buddhist newspapers to explicate how Korean Buddhists came to participate in a “Buddhist Soteriology” of stem cell science. In certain Buddhist discourses, Hwang is described as seonjisik (kalyāņamitr 善知識) who sacrificed worldly comfort for “pure” scientific pursuits. Moreover, his cultivation of “originary technology” loosely mirrored ideas about Zen (Seon 禪) practice; and Korean Buddhist women were particularly instrumental in pledging to donate eggs as dana (布施) to support Hwang’s research endeavors. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Marcie Middlebrooks was born in Seattle Washington in 1972 and grew up in the Renton/Skyway area. She attended Lakeridge Elementary School, Dimmitt Middle School and Renton High School. She received a B.A. from Bryn Mawr College in 1994 majoring in Anthropology and Sociology at Haverford College. In 2005, she received an M.A. in Religious Studies from Seoul National University (Thesis: Hanmaum Seonwon gwa Daehaeng Seunim ui Juingong Gae-nyeom-e gwan han yeongu) and then an M.A. in Anthropology from Cornell University in 2007. iii For all the Rogues at the Inn iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Many people have contributed to the successful completion of this dissertation. I would like to thank all of my dissertation committee members, especially my committee chair, Andrew Willford whose insightful questions and patience made the writing of this dissertation both an adventure and a transformative experience. I am also thankful for Jane Marie Law’s support and encouragement as well as her suggestion to include a preface with this dissertation which helped immensely. Lucinda Ramberg has reminded me of the underlying force of gendered affects, which – despite being trained as an anthropologist - I feel like I am only beginning to understand. I also greatly appreciate Laurel Kendall’s participation on the committee. Both Dominic Boyer and Victor Koshmann served on my committee at different times and taught me many valuable things. In the early stages of writing and research, I gained much from Cornell’s Science and Technology Studies (STS) Department and I am grateful for being able to participate in an STS graduate student lead discussion and writing group. Many thanks to Nicole Nelson, Harald Kliems, Honghong Tinn, Megan Halpern, Angie Boyce, Lisa Onaga, and Emma Zuroski for directing me to relevant Science Studies materials. I also benefited greatly from the feedback I received, early on, from the Cornell Science Studies Research Group (SSRG) – comments made by Suman Seth were especially useful. Fei Lu helped me comprehend genetics better and Adam Arcadi helped update my understanding of the biological mechanisms of human evolution, as well. I’ve benefited from a Korea Foundation Social Science Research Council (SSRC) Workshop. Many thanks to the faculty advisers - Seungsook Moon, Nancy Abelmann, Suk-Young Kim, and Theodore Yoo, the organizers - Nichole Restrick Levit and Fernando Rojas, as well as fellow participants - Jeewon Min, Olga Fedorenko, Jenny Wang Medina, Rakko Chung, Chunwoong Park, Sohl Lee, v Jonathan Glade, Geun Koh, Katherine Lee, and Kwang-hyung Park for their valuable feedback. A Fulbright Fellowship to Japan provided funds for time at the University of Tokyo. I am grateful to Professor Shimazono Susumu, for encouraging my interest in the intersections between biotechnology, religion, and ethics and I admire his tireless work in this area. Many thanks also goes to the University of Tokyo Religious Studies Department graduate students - Hazuki Shimono, Erik Schicketanz, Emmi Okada, Illya Musulin, Carl Freire, Hatsumi Takemura, Seiko Sato, and Reiki Uema among others. While in Tokyo, I benefited greatly from stimulating discussions with Professor Naoki Watanabe, Yi Youngjae and (later in Seoul) Hwang Hoduk, as well as benefited from talks with Park Sang-mi. Hatsumi Takemura, Lisa Onaga, Yuki Oda, Hiroko Tabuchi, Kristina Buhrman, and Sarah Munton helped me settle in and adjust to life in Japan; I am also grateful to Yu Wada who good-naturedly accompanied me to Kanzai-area temples on some very cold days. I would like to thank Christian Dimmer, Mike Connolly, Ryan Sayre, Susan Westhafer, Kari Shepherdson- Scott, Lily Anne Yumi, Chinghsin Wu, May-yi Shaw, Max Ward, Colin Smith, Emilie Mouchel, and Molly Vallor. In addition to funding some of my Korean language studies, the Korea Foundation also provided a fieldwork fellowship, which made it possible for me to conduct research in South Korea. While in and around Seoul, doing fieldwork, I benefited from exchanges with John Cho, Alice Soojin Kim, Danielle Chub, and Taru Salmenkari among others. I would also like to thank the people at various Buddhist Temples and Seon Centers I have visited; particularly Venerable Hyejong, Venerable Hyekeun, Venerable Chong-go and Venerable Chongwol, Do Tae-sun and many others. I am grateful to the people at Seoul National University’s (SNU) Religious Studies Department which I was affiliated with during my dissertation fieldwork. Many thanks to Professor Yun Woncheol, my advisor, as well as Professor Keum Jangtae, now-retired Professor Chong Jinhong, Professor Kim Jongseo, Professor Choi Jong Seong, and Professor Yu Yoohan. I will always remember fondly the self-proclaimed Gary Cooper of Korean religious studies, Professor Yun I-heum, who passed away vi while I was writing this dissertation. Many thanks also goes to my SNU Religious Studies Department seonbae and colleagues who have taught me so much over the years – Im Buyeon, Kim Il Gwon, Bang Won-il, Kim Seong Soon, Kim Min, Lee Chang Yik, Lee Jong-bok and Suh Myung- Sahm. In addition, I benefited greatly from the advice of Thomas Kim, Dane Alston, Mukul Basu, and Mike Ralston who has continued to provide much appreciated encouragement and advice. I am especially grateful to SNU Veterinarian School Professor and respected “Dharma Teacher” Woo Hee-jong for taking the time to speak with me about the South Korean stem cell research and providing suggestions and reading materials early on. Many thanks also to Park Chul-hyun, Yeo Woon-kyung, Kim Kun-woo, Cheon Jeonghwan, and Shin Ik-soo. While looking for secondary source material on the Hwang stem cell controversy, I was not surprised to discover an insightful essay written by the ever-prodigious Cheon Jeonghwan - if only I could read as quickly as Cheon Jeonghwan writes. While I was conducting library research at SNU, Park Eunyong, Jo Yeong-shil, and others who were but a short walk across the “bridge-of-clouds” of building
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